Time Management Strategies for Small Business Owners

As we officially enter into the year
2019, it is the perfect time for small business owners—and all people for that
matter—to think about ways to improve their lives. But while many people find
it easy to list all of the things that they want to do this year, they have a
much more difficult time figuring out how they are actually going to do them. This is one of the many reasons why,
statistically, 80% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by February.

One of the best ways you can take
your dreams and turn them into realities is by finding ways to utilize your
time more effectively. By working smarter—in addition to working harder—you
will be able to get more things done in a day and move closer to achieving both
your professional and personal goals.

In this article, we will briefly
discuss some of the many ways that small business owners can better manage
their time. Though the strategies that are best for you will obviously depend
on your personal preferences and the state of your business, these time-tested
strategies are often among the most effective.

Active Calendar Management

One of the reasons why small business
owners often find themselves feeling overwhelmed is that their to-do list seems
bottomless with no end in sight. Though this may be true to an extent, it is
important to recognize that there really are only so many things you can do in
a day.

Depending on the nature of your
business, you may also want to allow for plenty of “flex time.” By making an
effort at the beginning of the week (or Sunday night, if you prefer) to
distribute a reasonable amount of tasks each day, you will find yourself much
less overwhelmed while simultaneously being able to feel good at the end of
each day.

Recognize which Tasks are Actually the Most Important

Because your time is limited, you
will inevitably need to determine the relative urgency and importance of each
task at hand. This will make it much easier to decide which tasks need to be
done this week and which pending tasks can be pushed to a later date.

There are many different ways to
organize importance including profitability, LIFO (last in, first out), the
longevity or size of each client (or whoever the task assigner might be), and
various others. Regardless of what method is most important to you, separating
the urgent tasks from the non-urgent tasks will help you have much more
productive weeks.

Chunking

If you are like many small business
owners, you probably frequently find yourself needing to memorize large amounts
of information in a short amount of time. This may include anything ranging
from presentation notes to industry protocols to everything in between.

“Chunking” is a term that is used by
business people, college students, and anyone else who is pressed to memorize
something. This technique essentially involves breaking down large amounts of
information into smaller chunks. This will not only help you memorize relevant
information, but it will also make your to-do lists significantly more
manageable. For example, you could “chunk” a list of ten phone calls or e-mails
into a single to-do item that you refer to as “contacts”.

Developing Healthy Work-Break Cycles

Assuming that you are not a robot (or
even if you are a robot with limited bandwidth), it is unlikely that you will
be able to truly work from 9 to 5
without interruptions. If you are being honest with yourself, your days likely
truly consist of periods of high productivity and periods of time that can be
used more efficiently.

Many small business owners have found
that “cycling” between working and taking a break can yield the greatest
amounts of output per hour. For example, the Pomodoro method involves 25
minutes of intense focus followed by a brief 5 minute break (repeated as
needed). The 52-17 method, as the name implies, involves 52 minutes of working
followed by a 17 minute break. It may be worth your time to experiment with
multiple different types of cycles and see which ones actually work for you.

Delegating & Outsourcing when Possible

If you only have 480 minutes (8
hours) you hope to dedicate to working in a given day, then you should do
everything you can to make that time as productive as possible. Because there
are some tasks that, as the owner of your small business, you are likely able
to specialize in, these are the tasks that you should consider to be the most
important.

Some tasks, such as marketing,
website management, accounts payables, and various others are necessary, yet,
are still ineffective uses of your time. For example, suppose that when you are
engaged in your area of specialization, you can earn your business $80 per
hour. If it costs $40 per hour to delegate or outsource a task to someone else,
you are effectively choosing to lose money by doing these duties yourself
(excluding various bottlenecks). Though you may be reluctant to give up control
over some elements of your business, this will inevitably need to occur if you
hope for your business to actually grow.

Conclusion

Even if you already find yourself overwhelmed with your tasks for the new year, your long-term objectives are still well within your reach. Implementing even just one—or multiple—of these productivity strategies can help you have your most productive year yet.

Andrew Paniello | Andrew attended the University of Colorado and earned degrees in Finance and Political Science (Philosophy minor). He is currently a freelance writer with a primary emphasis on business topics. In his free time, Andrew enjoys playing piano, painting, hiking, and playing basketball.

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